“I’m extremely saddened that this immoral individual has been released from prison.

“He was the leader of the gang that was responsible for Veronica’s murder.

“He’s already out and making denials and he’s being disrespectful towards Veronica’s memory, with his suggestions that she was lying.

Gilligan, who in 2001 was cleared of Guerin's murder, arrogantly smirked at waiting media as he walked out of the jail at 9.37am.

He smiled and was seen talking on his mobile phone as his brother Thomas drove him from Portlaoise’s gates.

A small group of locals watched nearby, eager to catch a glimpse of one of Ireland’s most infamous criminals.

Shortly later Gilligan arrived at his brother’s house at Neilstown Crescent in Clondalkin, West Dublin, where a celebration went well into the night.

The gang boss had previously insisted he would not speak to reporters, even for €1million, but he could not resist the media spotlight.

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In an astonishing rant at the doorstep of his brother’s home, Gilligan said:

He was not involved in the murder of crime reporter Veronica in 1996

The gangster didn’t assault her when she called to his Jessbrook equestrian centre property in 1995

He never threatened to rape Ms Guerin’s son Cathal, then six

That he is refusing to hide away after his prison term, and

He planned to have a beer and enjoy his release

When asked if he was innocent of Veronica’s murder, Gilligan responded: “Yes I am”, before adding that he was innocent of all the crimes he was convicted of.

The crime boss said: “I had nothing to do with Veronica Guerin’s murder, because, like, I tried to get my trial on three times.

“I heard [journalist] Vincent Browne say I tried to get it on twice. But we tried to get that trial on three times.

“I couldn’t wait to get that trial on in Kilcock [court]. And the State kept putting it back on even when the judge seen my convictions. I said to him, will you please go ahead with it.

“This girl [Veronica], God rest her, she never wrote one word about me.”

Gilligan was cleared of the murder in 2001 but was convicted of smuggling drugs and received a 20-year term.

He also denied assaulting Veronica in September 1995 when she called to Jessbrook in Co Kildare to quiz him on his involvement in the international drugs trade.

Gilligan was later arrested and charged with assault and was due before Kilcock District Court at the end of June 1996. On June 26, the mother of one was murdered.

John Gilligan walks free

He added: “I don’t accept I assaulted her. People said I admitted it – I did no such thing.

“One of the reasons I didn’t get convicted in the Special Criminal court of the murder, when people said I threatened the lady.

“In those days there were no throwaway phones, they were all bill phones to your landline.

“The courts asked for five days for the prosecution to please produce a bill phone and we’ll know where these threats came from – if he was roaming, if he was in Ireland or another jurisdiction.

“And the prosecution didn’t produce anything because I never made any phone calls.

“She did call to Jessbrook. I’m after being on trial and been proved nothing ever happened.”

When Gilligan was asked if he threatened to rape Ms Guerin’s son he said: “No I didn’t. Not a chance in a million years.” He went on to say he could have hidden away from the media after his release but chose not to.

“I could have come out of the prison and hid. I won’t be hiding from nobody, I have no problem with anybody.”

And when he was asked what his plans are for the future, Gilligan added: “My plans are to go in and have another beer.

“I’m delighted to be out of prison. I feel great.”

Friends and family gathered at his brother Thomas’s house yesterday where a party was held in honour of the cocky crime boss.

Journalist Veronica Guerin with her family

And Gilligan couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as he relished his freedom.

Meanwhile, we can reveal he was brought down from his cell on Portlaoise prison’s C1 wing two hours before his release to stop inmates wishing him well.

A prison source said: “They didn’t want any fuss being made about him when he was being brought down. Normally inmates will holler and shout and cheer the person who is about to be freed. That didn’t happen.

“Gilligan was in great spirits. He was cracking jokes with the warders.”

Gang member Brian Meehan is the only man from Gilligan’s crew still behind bars after he was jailed for life over Veronica’s killing.

Another associate, Paul Ward, had his murder conviction overturned on appeal.

The man named during one court case as having pulled the trigger in the shooting, Patrick “Dutchy” Holland, died in June 2009.

On Monday the Supreme Court threw out another in a long line of appeals over Gilligan’s detention.

The gangster had challenged the consecutive jail terms he was given for having mobile phones in prison.

And it emerged on the same day that Gilligan and his family are still challenging the “validity” of the seizure and sale by the State of their properties, including the Jessbrook equestrian centre in Co Kildare.

They have fought the State tooth and nail for 16 years to keep hold of the complex, which at one stage was valued at €1.5million.

It is now to be sold off for just €500,000 with a number of concrete offers already on the table.

All eyes will now be on Gilligan as to what his next move will be as gardai and prison sources have suggested he will soon leave the country and move to Spain.